Underestimated Too by Jettie Woodruff Page B

maybe it did feel
good to be in his arms, leaning against his hard chest, but I was still mad. I
just didn’t know what I was mad at, a lot of things, I guess.
    “I should move in with Alicia and let Celeste live
with you.” I sulked.
    Drew snickered, kissing my head. “Let’s talk.”
    “About what?”
    “About Skyler.”
    “Why would I want to talk about Skyler? And we’re
not supposed to talk about anything away from Deidra.”
    “That’s because she is afraid of me getting angry
and hitting you. I’m not angry and I’m not going to hit you. We won’t tell her.
It’s obvious Skyler is what has you so upset.”
    “I just hated hearing you talk about how in love
with her you were. I was here and you were spending time with her when you were
away, weren’t you, Drew?”
    “Turn around,” Drew requested.
    I spun in the water and placed my legs over his.
    “You’re so beautiful,” Drew quietly said, staring
into my eyes.
    “But not as beautiful as Skyler.”
    “You’re way more beautiful than Skyler ever was.
What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
    “Did you take her virginity too?”
    “No, I was her second.”
    “How long did you see her when we were together?
    “A long time.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “I kept you hidden from her for almost six months. I
thought Callaway would have been dead by then. He insisted that I bring you to,
hmmm,” he paused, “I don’t even remember what it was.”
    “It was a benefit banquet. I remember,” I reminded
him.
    “Okay, I had to tell her about you that night. She
was pissed and couldn’t believe that I married you. Of course when I offered to
walk away from the money, her tune changed. I offered to divorce you, walk
away, get a real job, and maybe rent an apartment or something. She didn’t want
me without the money.”
    “Did she know that you had sex with me?”
    “No, she wouldn’t have understood that. I told you
today, Skyler wasn’t really into sex.”
    “When did you stop seeing her?”
    “When I started to fall in love with you.”
    “That wasn’t until I didn’t know who I was.”
    “No. That’s where you’re wrong. I was falling in
love with you almost immediately, I think.”
    “You hated me,” I point blank reminded him.
    “I did hate you. I hated that you were messing
everything up for me. I was supposed to get all of this myself with Skyler. You
weren’t supposed to be here. But, I didn’t hate you for long. Do you know I
spent hours watching you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “When I was away or even here in my office, I
watched you all the time. I couldn’t get enough of you. You amazed me.”
    I snorted and looked into his lying eyes.
    “I’m serious. No matter what I did to you, I
couldn’t break you. Your spirit returned as soon as I was out of the picture. I
used to love watching you read those stupid scary books. It made me laugh when
you’d sit up, panicked at what was going on in your books. I loved it even more
when I made you read the books that I downloaded on the e-reader for you. I
couldn’t wait to get home and take care of the twist in your hips for you.”
    “You never did that. You wouldn’t let me come,
remember?”
    “I did sometimes.”
    “Whatever, get back to Skyler. You sucked at letting
me come. You used it as a form of punishment.”
    “Even when I would sneak Skyler with me on trips, I
watched you. One of my favorite things to do was watch you in the kitchen with
Rebecca. Where you could be so silly. It made me smile. Knowing you were that
strong, that no matter what I did to you, you could still do that and love life,
made me appreciate you. I got to a point where I had to get alone to see you
before I could touch Skyler. She didn’t do for me what you did.”
    “Because you didn’t force her to do it.”
    “Maybe, but the fact still remains, I was falling
for you for a very long time. You can’t tell me you didn’t know that. We had
moments, you know we did.